Avalon
by Dave19941000
Summary: There is more than one power that is forbidden by god for human hands, but to fight Angels nothing is off the table.
1. 111: First Strike

Title: Avalon

Summary: There is more than one power that is forbidden by god for human hands, but to fight Angels nothing is off the table.

Spoilers: Marvel and Evangelion.

Disclaimer: All trademarked materials belong to their respective people/companies/corporations/conglomerates/publis hers/cats/secret organizations.

**1.1.1: Angel War**

**First Strike**

**April 8****th****, 2015**

"_Electronic Warfare systems green across the board."_

"_Both engines at full potential. Thruster 1, 2, 4 and 6 at 100 percent. 3 and 5 are at 96 percent, well within tolerance."_

"_Fuel cells at full, power conversion at 99.999 percent efficiency."_

"_You ready for this captain?" _Hearing the voices over the intercom, the young man was less than surprised to find out that _she _was asking him that. Looking to his right, he took a moment to take in the sight of the green aircraft in the launch catapult next to his.

"I could be asking you the same thing Mana, but now is not the time. This is our first combat mission, not some training exercise." He replied.

"_Aww, is our little captain worried?" _another voice asked. Moving his head to the left and downward, he looked at the pink aircraft in the lower catapult, the sight only possible thanks to the crafts all-angles view.

"Cut the chatter down Cmdr. Makinami." Was his response, which earned him a laugh.

"_Oh, so you're on a first name basis with Mana, but it's Cmdr. for me? I didn't realize she meant that much to you."_ Mary stated, continuing to laugh.

"It's not like that, I just like Mana and not you, that's all."

"_Oh really? Because you seem to like other people here to and you always refer to them formally. When was the last time you called the Director 'Nick'?"_ Mary continued. The young pilot felt his blood pressure rising, before he took a moment to take a deep breath and calm his thoughts.

"Mary, I know what you're doing, and I'm not playing this game."

"_Oh, come on" _she whined _"show me that angry face you make when I annoy you, it makes you look like an angry puppy."_

Feeling his face turn red, he double checked his comm. system to make sure he was on audio-only communication. Confirming that he was, he let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm not even sending you a video feed, why do you even care? Scratch that, I don't want to know. But this, this is exactly why I'm informal with Mana, because she doesn't try to get me into shit like this." He told her, only when he was done remembering that he was on an open comm. "Oh fuck."

"_That's all very interesting captain Haida, but I personally do not feel I needed to know this."_ A male voice informed him.

"Director Fury," he stated nervously "I apologies, I forgot for a moment that this was an open comm."

"_It's alright son, just don't let it happen again. Though Mary does bring up the point that you pilots are not considered on par with agents here. You are well within your rights to be informal with us."_ The director responded.

"With all due respect sir, Department H operates differently from S.H.I.E.L.D. and is much more… traditional in its methods." He explained. Looking back at the green aircraft, he couldn't help but wonder what the girl within was thinking.

"_Be that as it may, I just wanted to remind all three of you that this is more than just a typical S.H.I.E.L.D. and Department H joint mission, this is a full multinational join operation with NERV and Gehirn. Anything you do wrong could lead to a diplomatic incident and neither of our countries wants to deal with that. Is that understood" _After hearing three 'yes sir's, he continued. _"Alright then. Avalons, move out."_

With that order, the three aircraft launched from the Helicarrier, heading westwards towards Tokyo-3.

**Outside Tokyo-2 minor train station #7**

Looking at his watch, Shinji Ikari was livid. He had sent a letter from his father summoning him with instructions on where to go, with a picture of the woman who would be picking him up.

And she was over an hour late.

Taking in his surroundings from his seat on a roadside bench, he felt intimidated by the sight of the tall buildings around him. The tallest building in the town he'd called home was a house that had two floors and an attic. The train station alone dwarfed everything he had known, and it was nothing compared to the towers of glass that surrounded him in all directions. It didn't help that there was not a soul in sight, everyone having disappeared half an hour before when sirens had gone off. He had heard of this, that in the major cities and towns along the coast they would have a drill once every few weeks in case of an emergency. But even if he had known where to go, he didn't think of a standard drill important enough for him to add even more time to his wait by having the woman need to go looking for him in the shelters.

Not that he minded after giving it some thought. After all, why should he be in a hurry to see his father again? He hadn't seen him in three years and then all of a sudden he sends him a letter telling him to come to Tokyo-3? What was there in Tokyo-3 anyway? From what he had heard about the city it was just the place where the mega-corporations of Japan built their research and development divisions. What else did it have? Some 'Geo-Front' thing, whatever that means. What possible use could he be in a place like that?

And what the hell was that noise?

Looking towards his left, he say a car speeding towards him at what was definitely above highway speeds, let alone that of normal roads. It was probably a whole kilometer away, but with it being the only moving object in sight he could see it clear as day.

"Why is it moving so fast?" He quietly asked himself.

As if to answer his question, a loud noise to his right grabbed his attention. In the opening between two mountains that lead to the ocean, Shinji could see dozens of helicopters: CH-53Es, VTOLs and even a few Apaches. And they were all moving towards him. In reverse. And not a moment later a monster showed its face. The beast, easily hundreds of feet tall, merely walked forwards as one of the VTOLs fired on it to no apparent effect. Its retaliation was swift; it stopped, lifted its arm and fired some sort of purple energy out of its hand. The VTOL fell out of sight, blowing up behind one of the buildings a few blocks from where he was. The explosion was followed by another as the monster jumped towards where it landed, presumably landing on it.

As the assembled helicopters and rocket artillery Shinji could not see started to fire on the monster, his attention turned from the battle back to the road as the car that had been speeding towards him came to a screeching halt not five feet from him. The car, a black town car, had four letters written in red. His English wasn't perfect, but he couldn't make out what the possible meaning could be behind… "Nerv?"

As if in response to his question, the front passenger door opened. Inside the driver seat sat a woman in her late twenties with sunglasses and a red beret. He immediately recognized her as the woman in the picture. In that she had looked so carefree, but here she looked more serious then he would have thought possible.

"Get in." Not questioning her as another explosion could be herd in the distance; he practically dove into the passenger seat. By the time he had closed the door; the car had already reversed, preformed a J turn and had begun accelerating down the road at speeds Shinji didn't think where possible for a car.

"What the hell was that thing?" He thought out loud as he looked in the mirror at the battle behind them.

"That 'thing' is code named 'Angel'." The woman explained. As the battle behind them became smaller and smaller, she quickly turned onto an empty highway with a sign that read 'Tokyo-3: 120 km'. Remembering that he hadn't tied up his seatbelt, Shinji did so.

"I'm Misato by the way, nice to meet you Shinji." The woman, Misato, said to him. Nervously nodding, Shinji's response couldn't be herd as three aircraft flew not a hundred feet above the car in the same direction as them, only to turn around back towards the city.

**5 kilometers North West of Tokyo-2**

"_Alright ladies,"_ Jon's voice said over the comm. _"This is the real deal. Safeties off and cannons to maximum."_

"Yes sir." Mana replied. Despite her training, she couldn't help but feel nervous about fighting that monster. Having done a flyover the city, the JSSDF had only managed to slow the beast down at the cost of entire districts of the city and more than a few soldiers. "What's the plan captain?"

"_We double back, get into formation, then see what effect a simultaneous attack using all our cannons at maximum will have. Hopefully it will work out better than the JSSDF." _Jon informed her. Flying low over a highway, she followed his lead as he turned around and sped towards Tokyo-2. As the target moved in their direction, the bulk of the JSSDF forces in and around the city now in ruins, the three Avalons kept low as they charged the monster. _"Aim for the red spot on his chest and fire on my mark."_

The craft moved closer, now within the city, as the monster continued to move without giving them any attention. Moving closer and closer, Mana started to breathe faster as the think looked blankly at them. _"Fire."_

Not a moment later, the three craft each unleashed the power of their twin rapid-fire plasma cannons. Giving the monster three seconds of spray before they passed it, there was no real visible effect to it other than causing it to fall over onto its back.

"_Target is still moving." _One of the technicians from NERV informed them.

"_God dame it, that was everything we had, and all we did was knock it over?" _Mary groaned. Despite wanting to think otherwise, Mana couldn't deny that she had a point. The Avalons entire arsenal was the twin plasma canons that used the power of their fuel cells and any bombs which may have been strapped onto them. If all they could do united was knock it over, what use could they be?

"_Avalon 1 to NERV 1, what's the status on your toy?" _Jon asked. To most he probably sounded perfectly calm, but Mana could tell he was nervous. They had expected this to be a simple battle that would be over as soon as they arrived.

"_Unit 0 will be ready within half an hour. If it is incapable of finishing the task on its own, Unit 1 will be ready in two hours." _The NERV woman explained. _"Your orders are to distract the Angel while we prepare for launch."_

"_Well that's easier said than done, the thing's already back up."_ Mary moaned.

"_Mary, quit complaining. What we're going to do is go on hit and run attacks. With any luck, we should be able to keep it busy long enough for them to get this _'Unit 0' _ready. Understood?"_ Both Mana and Mary responded to Jon's order with an affirmative, the captain being the first to strike as the Angel left the city limits. He struck the Angel across its torso, again not causing any visible effect. As it stopped moving and looked up at the blue Avalon, clearly intending to attack, Mary's pink Avalon dove in from behind, sticking across its back. Again the Angel stopped, and again it positioned itself to strike the new threat. Readying herself, Mana dove at the Angel and gave it a seconds worth of plasma across its back. Quickly pulling up, she pushed the throttle to max as it now targeted her.

But it never struck.

Looking back, she saw that Jon had one again attacked and gained its attention. Mary was about to start her second run, which meant that she was going to need to do her own attack in moments. Again readying herself, she wondered how long they would need to do this.

**Highway 113, 40 kms south east of Tokyo-3**

For most of the car ride, Shinji had been quiet. Keeping an eye on the battle with the mirrors in the car and the occasional glance over his shoulder, the Angel now was but a tiny object from his point of view, able to be blocked from sight by his thumb.

"Uh, Miss Katsuragi, why exactly was I brought here?" Shinji asked nervously. His question just caused Misato to smirk.

"In the last half hour you were in the middle of a battle between the military and an alien, saved by a beautiful woman and are currently speeding down a highway and the first thing you ask is why you're here. You are you're father's son." Her comment made Shinji feel uncomfortable. He really didn't want to think of himself like that; he wanted to think that if he had been in the same situation he would have been a better man and not sent his own son away.

Forcing a smile, he spoke again. "Thanks, but that doesn't really answer my question."

Misato didn't respond at first. Looking at her watch for a moment, she smirked as she continued to drive down the highway. Moments later Shinji felt a slight vibration, then another, and another. The vibrations continued, getting slightly stronger each time. By the time the vibrations became violent and started to cause the car to sway, Shinji could see what was causing them. Up ahead a few kilometers in front of them, an orange object that he could only describe as a metal monster was running towards them parallel to the highway.

As the orang machine, which appeared to be sprinting, came closer, Misato stopped the car. Shinji understood why, as the machine finally passed them by the force of its steps where so strong that it caused the car to be lifted over a foot in the air before a hard landing probably broke something important on the underside.

Looking behind in awe after the machine, Shinji could barely understand what was happening. To get a better view, he unbuckled himself and opening his window, leaning over to watch the machine as it continued to run towards the Angel that was almost too far to be seen.

"What in the name of god was that?"

"That, my dead Shinji, was Evangelion Unit 0."

**Highway 113, 75 kms south east of Tokyo-3**

"_My cannons have overheated again, captain. Computer sais it'll take at least five minutes to regain operation."_

"_Jon, my port cannon's internal circuits have melted, starboard is only discharging at 38 percent potential." _

Jon Haida was not a happy man. For the past forty minutes he and his fellow pilots had been doing their best to slow the Angel down. Though they could slow it down for a minute with a good hit and run attack, the tactic only works so long as they could continue to do so. The problem wasn't with the energy requirements, the fuel cells could be used to fire continuously for weeks on end, the problem was the cannons. After only a few runs, the things would overheat and when they were ready to fire again they would not be able to discharge as much energy as before. Every time they would stop to let their cannons cool off, the Angel would continue on its way. And the JSSDF had informed them in no uncertain terms that if it reached the 60 kilometer line, an N2 mine would be deployed.

"Son of a bitch, Avalon 1 to NERV 1, where the hell is Unit 0?" Despite NERVs best efforts, they had been ten minutes late in deploying Unit 0, which just made it that much harder on the three pilots who needed to distract the Angel while dodging the occasional attack from it.

"_Unit 0 is approximately 35 kilometers from your location, estimated time of arrival in 70 seconds." _The NERV woman, who Jon had learned was one 1st Lieutenant Maya Ibuki, informed him.

"Roger NERV. Mana, you keep a safe distance while your cannons cool. Mary, you might only have one but it will have to do. Until Unit 0 gets here we are to continue as ordered." Despite his tone of voice, he was very worried. His own weapons had dropped to below 40 percent potential and where again on the verge of overheating. Due to the overheating problem, he had ordered them to only use one cannon on each run and alternate between them. The only problem was that due to the way the cannons where built much of the heat generated by one would affect the other, only adding one or two runs that could be done before overheating occurred. This was a serious problem that, assuming they survived, would need to be addressed.

Diving towards the Angel again, he couldn't help but notice that Mary's pink Avalon was starting to trail smoke from its burnt out cannon. This would be expected if the smoke where white, but it was a dark black.

"Mary," he yelled "cancel my orders, you're on fire. Get out of here now and get to the closest airport."

"_But..." _Mary started to say in protest, but Jon quickly cut her off.

"No buts, if you put more strain on the weapon systems with one of your cannons on fire you could risk igniting the fuel cells, and we both know what that would do." He didn't need to explain it to her. Though the fuel cells used energy that was neither flammable nor liquid, but extracted from something classified above his clearance level, he still used the term 'ignition' due to the fact that, should the fuel cells go critical, the resulting explosion would be comparable to the Tsar Bomba in theory. In practice they had never had an opportunity to find out, and the young captain wanted to keep it that way.

With Mana on the sidelines and Mary out of the fight, Jon prepared for another dive before he noticed that, despite more than a few moments passing without being fired on, the Angel had stopped moving. And he could see why. Ahead of it was a large orange mech that was charging straight for it.

Taking a moment to take in the sight, he knew that this battle was not over. "Mana, head towards Tokyo-3 airport, we're done here."

**Unit 0 cockpit**

This was the moment she had been training for all these years. Ever since she had been first created, she had been waiting for this day, the pay she fulfilled her purpose. The brave soldiers of the JSSDF had tried and failed to harm the Angel or stop it, the Avalons had merely slowed it down, but now, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, she was about to stop this monster from parts unknown from taking a single step further towards her home.

"_Mana, head towards Tokyo-3 airport, we're done here." _She heard the voice of the Avalon group leader state. She agreed with the sentiment. Two of them unable to continue and Unit 0s entry into the fight, the last one would simply get in her way.

"Unit 0 to NERV 1, I am about to engage in combat." Taking a moment to look at her clock, she noted that she had two and a half minutes worth of energy remaining. The only weapon she had was her prog-knife, the rifles not available to her this far from the city limits and their need considered too low for her to have been issued one before launch.

"_Rei, Angel three's AT field is at 6.7" _Maya informed her. Taking note of that, she activated her own AT field at maximum. She was not moments away from the Angel, its eyes glowing slightly as it lifted its arm. Moving to the right to avoid the energy discharge, she took her prog-knife and activated it. Not a moment later she slammed into the angel's AT field with the full force of her charge.

"_AT fields have come into contact, they're beginning to eliminate each other." _Makoto franticly stated. When the AT fields did cross each other out, the Angel grabbed Unit 0s head with its hand and began to pound at it. Despite the pain that was forcing itself on her left eye, Rei kept calm and cut into the attacking arm with her prog-knife. Cutting the arm off, she then grabbed the Angel's face, forced it backwards into the ground and began to stab at its core.

The first stab caused the core to have major cracks. The second caused it to have even more. The third caused parts of it to start to fall off. The fourth caused it to fall apart completely. There was no time for a fifth as the angel, with its dying breath, lunged forward towards Unit 0, held it in a firm embrace and detonated itself around the Evangelion.

"_Is she alright? Is she alive?"_

"_Not reading anything from Unit 0."_

"_Heat signatures unknown, life signs unknown, we're not getting anything."_

"_Well for the love of god somebody find out if she is alive."_

"Unit 0 reporting mission accomplished."

**Above Highway 113, 60 kms south east of Tokyo-3**

The only thing that was crossing the minds of the three Avalon pilots as they flew towards Tokyo-3 was summed up by Mary. "Holy shit."

**Highway 113, 35 kms south east of Tokyo-3**

"Miss Katsuragi, what just happened? What was that thing?" Shinji asked as he watched the sight of the now clearing explosion behind them. Misato, though, wasn't paying him full attention as she had her ear pressed against her cellphone.

"Is she alright and is it dead? Yes to both? Good. And how are our guests doing? That bad. What are the chances of there being a problem with the one on fire? What do you mean 'we don't know'? This isn't just something we can leave up to chance, you and I both know what could happen if there is a problem. Yes I know it's not my place to worry, but I am still Operations Director, so it's my place to at least know. Yes, he's safe. Code name 'third' will be there soon. Eta 15 minutes." With that she turned off her phone and returned her attention to Shinji. "Sorry about that, work and all."

Shinji didn't know how to react to any of this. What was that 'Evangelion' thing? Or the 'Angel' for that matter? Who were these 'guests' and why where they so important? Why had he been referred to as 'third'? All these and other questions raced through his mind as he could only begin to imagine what possible reason there could have been for his father to send for him.

"I just hope I'll get a few answers." He mumbled to himself. Looking out the window and watching as three planes quickly passed over them, one of them trailing smoke, he felt something fall onto his lap. Looking down, he saw that Misato had given him some sort of file with the title 'welcome to NERV' on it.

"Uh, Miss Katsuragi, what's a 'NERV'?"

"NERV is Japan's answer to anything the JSSDF can't handle. It was created to fight the Angels, but it also is used for whatever might come up that we need something unconventional to fight with. Essentially a glorified research and development branch of the military." After hearing her short explanation, he understood why it was based in Tokyo-3, but that still left his one big question hanging. Opening the file, he noticed that much, in fact most, of the documents were crossed out with a black marker. As he read through what little there was that was uncensored, he noticed that there were seven pages that each had a photo of someone clipped on. The first was of himself, with standard information about his age, place of birth, that sort of thing. The next one was of Misato, with most of it being blanked out. The third was of an albino girl, most of which was also censored, but did reveal her name to be 'Rei'.

The next one was of a red headed European. This girl, 'Asuka', had everything except her name and age crossed out. The next was of a boy about his age, also European, with short blond-brown hair. This 'Jon' had most of his file censored as well, but the words 'Department H' had randomly been left uncensored for whatever reason. Next was a girl with short, light brown hair by the name of 'Mana'. Like Jon her file had a seemingly random word declassified, though hers was 'S.H.I.E.L.D.', whatever that meant. The last was that of a girl named 'Mary' with long brown hair. Like Mana her one word that was declassified apart from her age and name was 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'

Taking a moment to let it all sink in, Shinji couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed. Whatever was happening, it was going to be a long ride.

**Tokyo-3 international airport**

"_Mary, slow down. You're going in to fast."_ Jon ordered her. With her Avalon on fire, she had been given priority over the others for landing and she could see several fire trucks and an ambulance assembled for when she hit the ground.

"Sorry cap, but one of the fuel injectors is jammed open, plus my landing gear is not responding. This is going to hurt." The pink Avalon quickly descended towards the airstrip, the flames of the fire that was consuming its cannon now visible. As it began its final approach, Mana and Jon could do nothing as they watched their comrade fall from the sky.

Moments before she hit the landing strip, Mary made one last comment in her typical fashion. "Mana, if I don't make it, you can have my stuff. Jon, please wear that outfit I got out in public."

"_No."_ His response was immediate. "Spoilsport."

With that, the pink Avalon hit the airstrip hard. The force of the impact caused the plane to bounce several meters into the air before coming down again and the engines still pushing it forward. The Avalon moved forward, sparks form its underside flying behind it as it kept moving forward at a slower and slower rate. After a few seconds, smoke started to fill the cockpit. After a few more seconds, Mary was coughing uncontrollably as the density of the smoke became too high for her to handle. When the Avalon finally came to a stop it was over a kilometer ahead of where it had touched down, the engines deactivating because of the strain they were under.

Still coughing hard, she pulled one of the emergency levers which popped open the top of the cockpit. Quickly pulling herself up and over the side, she slid down the side for a moment before falling the rest of the way down onto the hard concrete airstrip. Though she tried her best to roll into the fall, she most definitely felt something in her legs brake. Not wasting her type trying to lift herself up, she rolled herself away from her Avalon as fast as she could.

Stopping herself on her stomach as the concrete underneath her turned to grass; she looked back at her Avalon to see that several fire trucks had started to spray it with foam, the fire not consuming the entire left wing. Her eyes started to close as she surcame to the pain in her legs, her blurry vision seeing two paramedics.

In the adjacent airstrip Avalon's 1 and 2 landed together in a combat landing. Before either one of their planes had come to a full stop both pilots had started to climb out of their cockpits, leaving their planes to be removed from the runway by the airport's ground crew. Both did what was probably the opposite of the logical course of action in this situation, and ran towards the burning Avalon 3.

As they got closer to the plane, two firefighters grabbed each of them to prevent them from getting closer. "There's nothing you can do kid." One of them told them. "She's already out; it's just the burning plane."

Stopping his resistance, Jon fell to the ground. He watched the plane burn. This was his fault, if he had been a better leader, managed the fight better, this never would have happened. His job was to protect Mana and Mary while they were in the air, and he had failed.

Movement catching his eye, he turned his head to see an ambulance moving away from them, lights on and going as fast as it could. Lifting himself up, he asked the firefighter "where is that ambulance going?"

"It's probably heading towards the General hospital, only hospital this city has."

"How do I get to it? Where is it?"

"It's in the Geo-Front."

That answer begged the question that Mana. "What is the Geo-Front?"

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier**

Looking over the eastern coast of Japan from high above the Pacific, Director Fury was questioning the wisdom of the use of the Avalons so soon after development with pilots without any real combat experience.

"Director," one of the communications officers stated. "We have an update on their status."

"Well go on, I don't have all day." If Director Fury was known for anything, it was that he was blunt.

"NERV 1 confirms the destruction of target Angel-3, however…"

"However?"

"However, Avalon 3 was forced to crash land at Tokyo-3 airport. Pilot Makinami is apparently being rushed to the hospital."

Taking a moment to make sure the officer was finished, the Director spoke two words. "I see."

**Geo-Front entrance C-63**

As the car pulled up into the specially made elevator, Shinji started to question his decision to come at all. Giant monsters, giant robots, the military caught in the middle, a plane that apparently crashed at the airport they passed by, and now he was in a car that was going into an elevator for cars going who-knows-where. He had a feeling he would either remember this as the day he made his biggest mistake or made the best decision of his life, and he probably knew which one that would be.

Closing the file he had been given, he let the information, what little there was to be had, sink in. As the elevator started to move, he let out a sigh.

"Trouble taking it all in?" Misato asked. Shinji just nodded. He didn't know how she did it, after all that had happened today she seemed so relaxed, so laid back. It was like she had not a care in the world. "So Shinji, you ever been to the Geo-Front?"

"I've never even been to Tokyo-3" Unsure of what to expect, he was both awed and shocked as the elevator walls disappeared to reveal an upside-down city. After a moment to try and understand what he was looking at, he then looked down to see forests, lakes, farms and several large structures on the bottom of the massive cave.

"This is the Geo-Front, Shinji. Mankind's last line of defense against the Angels, and the building blocks for the future." Before Shinji could respond or fully take in the sight around him, the view returned to metal walls as they once again went underground.

"So that's the Geo-front," He told himself. "It must be larger than the city."

"It is. Much of the land is used for farming to reduce our dependency on imports, while the lakes are used to filter our drinking water." Misato explained.

"But why would we build something like this?" Shinji asked, looking at the older woman.

"Simple, to make sure that if there ever is another impact, humanity will survive. We start here, and use what we learn to build colonies in space, then the moon, then mars and eventually go beyond that. Though in all honesty I don't think either of us will live long enough to see it get that far." As she finished, the elevator came to a stop. As Misato drove the car forward, Shinji took in the sight. Though not nearly as impressive as the Geo-Front, he couldn't say he had ever seen a parking lot that was so large that had only black vehicles. As far as he could see, this wasn't that far due to the poor lighting, there where nothing but cars and trucks of all manors. Most of the cars where German and the tucks America, but they all had three things in common; their color was black, their NERV logo red and their price tag expensive.

"Uh, Miss Katsuragi, is there a reason all the cars and trucks look like, well, that?"

"Well, how should I put this?" Misato asked herself. "You know what a company town is?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well Tokyo-3 was founded as one for NERV. We are more than just a government-run company, we're a brand." She told him, before mumbling "and unlike others we don't build flying ships or buildings with 200 foot logos on them."

"What was that last part?"

"Oh, just old rivalries." Misato chuckled. Shinji just sighed, wondering if he would ever learn just who or what all these people and names where and meant.

**SEELE Main Base of Operations,**

**Unspecified location within Israel**

Hearing his office door open, Konrad looked up from his pile of paperwork as one of his subordinates walked in.

"Sir," the soldier stated "we have just received a message confirming that, with the exception of code name 'Scarlet', all targets have arrived to Tokyo-3."

"Good" he stated. "Signal our operative within S.H.I.E.L.D. that it's time to begin Phase Two."

"Yes sir." With that the soldier left, leaving the head of SEELE to his devices.

Taking a moment to contemplate the events of the past few decades, he opened one of his desk draws and pulled out a small pendent. The metal pendent had a skull at its center, with six tentacles extending from it. Memories of the Second World War resurfacing, Konrad wondered what his former master would have thought of them now. Putting the pendant back in its place, he knew of only one thing that was appropriate to say at a moment so close to victory as this.

"Hail HYDRA."


	2. 112: Tokyo-3

**1.1.2: Angel War**

**Tokyo-3**

"Are we lost?"

"We're not lost."

"We're lost." Shinji didn't know why he had asked in the first place. It was clear that either Misato had no idea where she was going at this point, or she had decided to give him a tour of the same empty parts of the base over and over again for the past hour. As the two continued to walk aimlessly, he tried to think about how large this place could actually be. After all, it couldn't possibly be larger underground then then city above could it? Sure, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing if it was, those two monsters that fought each other in New York last week or the alien that had attacked a few hours earlier would definitely count as so in his mind, but he couldn't imagine why such a large base would be needed with all the space that he could see that was empty inside.

Running his fingers through his hair, he wondered for the millionth time what the possible reason for him to be there could be. He wasn't exactly the smartest person, and to say he wasn't the strongest would be an understatement, so why?

"Aren't you a little young to be a nurse?" He heard a male voice up ahead ask.

"I don't know, aren't you a little young to be a fighter pilot?" A female voice replied. Looking up ahead, Shinji could see three people about his age standing in the corridor. A boy and two girls. As he and Misato walked closer, the two continued their conversation without taking notice.

"Be that as it may I am still a captain and I demand to see my subordinate this instant." The boy stated, his voice rising in volume as he spoke. Shinji recognized the boy, he was the one who was in the file he had been given. The name escaped him at that moment but he remembered that he was from a 'Department H' or something like that.

"I'm sorry sir, but right now she is in surgery. I can't allow anyone to see her until it's finished and she has been given time to recover." The young woman replied. The boy didn't bother to respond; he merely sighed and pressed his back against the wall. The second young woman, the one who had not spoken, took notice of Shinji and Misato and loudly cleared her thought. Taking notice, the two straightened their backs, the boy saluting while the girl lowered her head slightly.

"Operations Director, I had no idea you were on base. We had been informed that you were in Tokyo-2." The young woman who had been arguing informed them.

"I was, but that's not important. What is, is whatever you two where arguing about. Enlighten me." Misato ordered, crossing her arms.

"This captain here," the girl stated, crossing her arms and pointing her thumb at the boy "wants to see a patient currently under the knife. He tried to order me to allow it, but I don't care if he's the commander himself, I cannot allow anyone to enter."

"Is this true captain?" Misato asked, setting her eyes on the boy.

"Yes Ma'am. I just wanted to see if she was alright with my own eyes." The boy confessed.

"As admirable as that is, I have to agree with the nurse here, miss…?"

"Horaki, Hikari Horaki, ma'am."

"Nurse Horaki. The best thing to do now is to let the doctors do their work. Nurse, I believe you have other patients to attend to." Misato stated, dismissing the young woman. With a nod, Hikari wordlessly left the group.

"Uh, OD Katsuragi, who is this boy you have with you?" The young woman who had not spoken yet asked. Shinji also recognized her from the files he had been given, but this time he remembered the person's name. 'Mana'.

"Oh, this is Shinji Ikari. Shinji, I'd like you to meet Captain Jon Haida of Department H and Commander Mana Kirishima of S.H.I.E.L.D. They are the pilots or Avalon 1 and 2 respectively." Misato informed him, the two nodding their heads in affirmation. "Shinji here is our latest potential addition. If he accepts then we will be able to begin as planned."

"Beg your pardon Miss Katsuragi," Mana interrupted "but we were told there would be six of us needed for the plan. Even with Mary that's still only five."

Misato smirked at the comment. "Oh, I'm well aware of that, and number six will be here soon enough."

Shinji didn't know why, but he didn't like the way Misato made that statement. Evidently the other boy didn't either as he mumbled about a 'lose cannon'. Before anyone could say anything though, the elevator at the end of the corridor opened to reveal a woman about Misato's age with blond hair. The woman had a frown on her face as she approached the group, several binders under her arm threatening to fall to the floor at the slightest provocation.

"Misato," the woman said. "I didn't expect to find you here, though with your sense of direction I'm not surprised." Misato just stuck her tong out at the woman, not giving any verbal response. "But I suppose this is for the better as it seems there's one less person I'll need to hunt down because of this. Children, I am Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, head of the research and development department as well as the maintenance corp. here at NERV." She paused to hand the three children each one of the binders she had under her arms, with one left remaining.

Taking the one he had been handed, Shinji noticed that it had his name printed on it. Opening it up, he saw that it was filled with legal wording he didn't understand and graphs next to them that showed some sort of pyramid of ranks with one small box outside the pyramid connecting to it that had his name on it.

"These binders have everything you need to know for operating here an NERV. Work hours, your position within the hierarchy; your role while working here, the list goes on." Ritsuko explained. "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask."

"Uh, doctor…" Shinji stated nervously.

"Yes?"

"What exactly am I even here to do?"

**NERV-1, Section 31**

**Evangelion/Avalon Hanger Bay**

"You want me to pilot THAT?" Shinji exclaimed, taking in the sight of the metal monstrosity that was Evangelion Unit 1. Within the 'cage', he could barely see the entirety of its head above the red liquid that incased it, its purpose unclear to him. To the right of the massive robot, its counterpart which he had seen fighting the 'Angel' was undergoing repairs, separated from Unit 1 by a massive wall that held back the liquid but left the head clearly visible from his vantage point. To the left of Unit 1, instead of another robot there was an empty hanger, its purpose also unclear. And facing the robot on the other side of the catwalk the group was standing on was a large platform that had the three planes he had seen before, technicians swarming around the pink one for some reason.

"Wow, it looks so much more intimidating up close." Mana remarked in awe. Jon, on the other hand, looked over the guardrail to the floor hundreds of feet below, only to quickly move back a moment later.

"What is it with you people and heights?" He mumbled.

"Yes Shinji," Ritsuko told Shinji, ignoring the statements from the other two. "This is mankind's last line of defense against the Angels. We…"

"Shinji," Misato interrupted. "We aren't telling you or forcing you to do this, I'm asking you to do this. Do it for yourself, do it for me, do it for…" She took a moment to look around, having run out of things to use as examples. Seeing Mana, she grabbed her arm and pulled her in front of Shinji. "This cute girl."

"What?" Mana asked.

"If we don't defeat the Angels then all this and everything else will be lost. Will you help us in protecting yourself, protecting everything you know and love, everything there is?" Misato asked, releasing Mana to grab Shinji's hands.

"Doctor" Jon whispered to Ritsuko. "Does the Operations Director normally act like this?"

"Usually she keeps it for her downtime, but at times it gets out during work hours." Ritsuko explained with a sigh.

"So what do ya say Shinji? Will you help us protect the world from these aliens?" Misato asked, giving Shinji her best puppy dog eyes.

"… No."

"What?" Misato asked in shock. She hadn't expected him to turn them down.

"I said 'no'. Why should I worry about the world's problems, I have better things to do back home." Shinji informed her.

"I can give you a few reasons." A cold voice stated. Looking down the catwalk, the group saw a young woman with light blue hair and red eyes walking towards them. "First and foremost is your own survival. We lose here you die just like the rest of us."

"Excuse me but, who are you?" Mana asked.

"Shinji, Mana, meet pilot Rei Ayanami." Ritsuko explained, adjusting her glasses slightly.

"So you're the one behind the pretty voice on the comm. system. I've heard of you, but my uncle never showed me any pictures." Jon stated jovially. He didn't visibly react as Mana smacked him hard on the back of his head. "What?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what's going on." Shinji stated, perplexed at reaction the two pilots had to this 'Rei'. Misato leaned over to him.

"That girl is the one who piloted Unit 0 in the battle today. You saw it while we were driving here." She whispered to him.

"She piloted that giant robot?" He stated in shock, gaining the attention of the whole group.

"Yes, I piloted the 'giant robot'." Rei told him coldly. "By risking my life out there me, the Avalon pilots, as well as the members of the JSSDF risked everything to protect ourselves, our nation but above all our loved ones. Many paid the ultimate price today. That is why I fight."

Shinji took a moment to think about what she said.

"Hey Rei, shouldn't you be getting debriefed?" Misato asked as realization struck her.

"I should, but I was ordered to come here."

"Ordered by whom?" Misato asked, knowing that most of the higher ranking members of NERV where still in an emergency meeting with their military counterparts and members of the government.

"Ordered by me." A male voice stated. Looking behind Rei, Misato saw a fairly tall man in what at first glance seemed a military uniform but with a clear Department H insignia on his shoulder in lieu of military rank.

"Mr. Barclay, what brings you here to the cages?" Ritsuko asked. "I was under the impression that you were afraid of the Evangelions."

"Oh I am, they scare the hell out of me. But I felt I needed to be here since I was told Misato was the one bringing him here." The man explained. He extended his hand towards Shinji. "Pleasure to meet you Mr. Ikari. I'm Lieutenant Commander Reginald Barclay, I'm third in command here at NERV 1. I hope the Operations Director didn't cause too much trouble for you."

Shinji hesitated as he looked at the outstretched hand. He could hear Ritsuko snickering at the commander's comment, though what was funny about it eluded him. After a moment, he accepted the offered hand.

**NERV 1 Medical Recovery Ward**

Fast asleep in a bed, with several wires connected to her to monitor her condition, Mary dreamt an incoherent story of race cars and flowers. Being unconscious, she was unable to hear the door open as a young nurse entered. The young nurse walked up to the bed of her patient and silently observed her for a few moments. Taking the time to contemplate her actions, the nurse took off her gloves, exposed Mary's legs and gently placed her hands on her left leg just above where her cast was.

A moment later, the cast and the leg began to glow slightly as the tissue and bone within repaired itself. After a few moments it was all over, and the nurse quickly moved to the other leg and repeated the proses. With both legs repaired the nurse covered Mary's legs and slowly made her way to the door. Before she left, she let out a sigh.

"The reason I'm here is because I'm a freak, a Mutie." She silently muttered to herself. With that, she left the room.

**NERV 1 Control Center**

**Command Block Section**

"No, absolutely not, I've gone ahead with some of your crazy schemes but I'm putting my foot down." Barclay stated. He and Misato had returned to their posts after they had assigned Maya to give the three new pilots a proper tour of the base. With the Commander and Sub-Commander both still in their meeting, the two could have a conversation of just about anything and not need to fear anyone overhearing so long as they kept their volume in check.

Which Barclay was not. Not that anyone really took notice to him raising his voice in protest to one of Misato's ideas. The first time had been odd, the few times after had been an annoyance, but after six months of it happening on a regular basis, everyone in the middle sections would just tone it out if they could hear it at all. The lower sections had nothing to fear though, they were too far to notice a gunshot from the Command Section if one where to go off.

"Why not? We already take care of Rei, and she's really opened up to us. What harm could possibly come from it?" Misato asked. Reg simply sighed, leaning back into the central seat.

"Misato," he stated. "Rei is one thing, but what you're suggesting is, well it's something else completely. Now I thought, given that he's my nephew, Jon could stay with us, and that maybe he and Rei could bond and that would probably be better for the unit as a whole. But taking him, and Shinji, and Mana, and Mary? The apartment we are staying in would need to be remodeled, and even then we would need to have two people sleeping in every room. And add to that the fact that only Rei is even used to sleeping in the small bedrooms that the apartment has, and that's without a bunkmate. And on top of that, we still need the space for Pen-pen's mini-room. Simply put, I don't see how we can make this work with the apartment."

Without saying a word, Misato handed him a clipboard with some papers on it. Accepting it, he looked it over for a few moments.

"You've got to be kidding. The Commander would never approve."

"But Reg," Misato told him. "The Commander stated that we needed to find reasonable accommodations for the pilots. And he did give certain financial limitations that could be used, but this falls well within them."

"And let me guess, as the acting commander you want me to approve it, since you know that he probably wouldn't?" She nodded her head in response. "And why should we? We're a five minute walk from school, five minutes from downtown and the commute is almost non-existent so all we have to do is walk to the nearest entrance that leads down here. Why should we give all that up for a downgrade that will only make life at home harder?"

"Well, apart from the fact it means get a real home instead of staying in my apartment," Misato told him. She then leaned forward and whispered into his ear. After she spoke to him, he raised his arms in defeat and took out a pen. He signed the documents and handed them back to her.

"You do realize this is going to quadruple the time it takes to get to work in the morning?"

"Yes." She replied.

"And you do realize that means we will need to drive?"

"Yes."

"And you do realize that I will never, ever set foot in that thing you call a car, so we'll have to get a new one?"

"Yes." She said quietly, hunching over in accepting the condition. She may love her car, but for some reason no one else seemed to appreciate it the same way she did. She had long given up on understanding why. "But if we get the paperwork done now, we should be able to have our things moved by tomorrow."

"You're really dead set on this aren't you?" Barclay asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

**Tokyo-3**

**Intersection of Main and 3ed Avenue**

They had always been secluded from society. Though Toji had always given the appearance of being just a typical jock and Kensuke that of an otaku, both had really just been two normal children trying to grow up in the post-impact world.

But ever since the accident both had had a change. Now, with the criminals out and about because of the sudden disaster drill, there was an opportunity neither could pass.

"You ready?" Toji asked Kensuke. Kensuke, pulling his mask over his face, nodded. "Alright, let's do this."

**NERV 1 Control Center**

**Operations Block Section**

Makoto had thought that the battle's end would mean that everything would be normal for the rest of the day, or as normal as it can be after a giant alien attacked the world. Which was why he was surprised when his monitor demanded his attention on activity happening on the surface. Now during air raid drills or other emergencies it was completely normal for criminals to surface and looked for things to steal, but this was anything but normal.

"Commander, I think you'll want to see this." He shouted, getting the attention of the two officers in the command block.

"What is it Lieutenant?" Barclay yelled bellow, pronouncing the rank as 'Leftenant' like all Department H personnel.

"A fight's broken out on the surface in downtown." Makoto informed him.

"Why should we care? That's the security force's problem." Misato asked him, before Barclay lifted his hand to inform her to stop.

"Put it up on the screen." He ordered him. As Makoto fiddled with his console, Barclay looked over at Misato. "If he's bringing it up, it's probably something worth seeing, even if it isn't related to our job."

Before she could respond, the main screen demanded their attention as it displayed video feed from security cameras. The screen showed them the corner of the street which had several dozen people. Most where normal street thugs or burglars, but two of them where very noticeably different. One of them was covered from head to toe in a red outfit with yellow marking on it, while the other was in a black and green outfit that covered most of his body but left the lower half of their face exposed. The way they were dressed wasn't that much of a shock to people who had lived in the post-impact world, but what was a shock was when the one in red extended their arm and unleashed electricity into several thugs and the one in green flipped over a truck one of the criminals was about to use to leave the scene with.

"Now that definitely falls under our jurisdiction." Barclay smirked. "Operations Director, I'll let you handle this."

"Ma'am, city security has refused to interfere. Their requesting JSSDF intervention, should I send a request?" Shigeru asked, looking up at the command block for his order.

"Negative, get section two to set up a perimeter to prevent any of those thieves from escape. I want one of our guys to have a talk with those two when this is done."

"Understood ma'am." Shigeru replied before relaying the orders to the relevant sections.

"What's the name of that guy you people usually have deal with this sort of thing?" Misato asked Barclay as they continued to watch the street fight.

"You mean Coulson? He's in New Mexico looking into something about that alien and his hammer falling out of the sky." He informed her. As she looked at him in shock, he lifted his finger to cut her off. "Before you say anything, remember that guy in New York who started fighting crime last year calling himself 'Spiderman', then tell me it's weird."

"This is all because of that super soldier project isn't it?" Misato asked. On the screen, the red one zapped one of the cars that was being filled with stolen merchandise, causing it to blow up.

"Banner and Blonsky where an isolated incident. Plus even if there were other experiments to recreate it why would two teens from Japan be on the list of candidates?" Barclay asked in return. The one in green picked up the remains of the car and through it onto another one of the thieves cars, crushing the top half. "Oh that's a good one."

"You're actually enjoying this, aren't you commander?" Misato asked with a smirk on her face. Barclay simply shrugged.

"When I was a little kid, I used to read all about Captain America and his pack of Howling Commandos. I always wanted to meet him, a real life superhero, and see him in action. But with him gone all I really could do was read comic books and watch cartoons based on him or about fictional characters like Superman or Batman. Now they've suddenly started appearing over the past ten years? It's like a childhood wish that wasn't too well thought-out coming true. You enjoy odd things, I enjoy odd things." He explained, not taking his eyes off the fight.

"Name one thing I enjoy that's odd." Misato asked, taking offense to the comment.

"Your level of drinking."

"Name one more."

"Pen-pen."

"One more."

"Your car."

"Another."

"That thing you do when I take your…"

"Alright I get the point." She cut his off, her face turning red. In the street the last of the criminals had been captured by two costumed teens. As the agents of section two started to round them up, the two quickly moved into an ally, escaping the view of the cameras. "You think they'll catch them?"

"Do they ever catch them? If it wasn't for the fact he proclaims it on national television whenever he gets the chance, the boys on the ground probably wouldn't know Stark is Iron Man." Barclay replied with a chuckle. "Mr. Hyuga, I think we've seen enough."

**Surface**

**Ally behind National Bank building**

"I think this was a mistake." Kensuke yelled as they ran. Running by a dumpster, Toji stopped for a moment to push it into the middle of the ally and flipped it over so that it couldn't be pushed easily. With the ally blocked, he started running again.

"I don't know what you're talking about Kensuke, this is fun." As he ran, he caught up to Kensuke and lifted him up.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm faster than you, and I'm more then strong enough to run with you in my arms. You think I'm just going to leave you behind?" As they ran from ally to ally, the agents seemed to be everywhere. One of their cars stopped in front of the latest ally they had entered, blocking off their path. Not accepting the dead-end, Toji jumped onto the car's roof and then with a strong leap jumped onto the top of a small building across the street.

"I knew you were strong, but I didn't know you where that strong." Kensuke yelled as Toji continued to run on the roof.

"Neither did I." As he continued to run across the roof, he quickly came closer to the edge of the building.

"No." Kensuke yelled at him.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!" Before Kensuke could let out another protest, Toji jumped from the edge of the building towards the other side of the street. Unfortunately for Toji, the building he thought was there had been demolished, meaning his fall was about fifty feet farther down then he had expected it to be. Hitting the ground running, he ignored the strain his legs were put under as he continued. "They still after us?"

"If they are, I can't see them. How close are we to the shelter?" Kensuke asked, looking over Toji's shoulder.

"Another two blocks."

**8****th**** Avenue Shelter**

Opening the door to the shelter, the two boys walked in to see dozens of eyes looking at them.

"Shut that dame door you kids." One of the older men yelled as they entered and did just that. After closing the door, the two walked towards the back of the shelter close to little girl.

"Big brother, where have you been?" The little girl asked.

As he put his schoolbag down, Toji sat down next to her and placed his arm around her protectively. "It's alright, me and Kensuke just needed to handle some stuff up top. Don't worry, it was just a drill. There's nothing to worry about."

Kensuke, who sat himself down next to Toji, wasn't nearly as optimistic.

"Toji," he whispered. "What if they come in here and find us? Those people aren't idiots."

"Quiet down," Toji whispered in response. "I don't want you scaring Sakura."

Unbenounced to them, one of the men on the opposite side of the shelter quietly spoke into a small communication device. A few moments later the entrance once again opened.

"Oh great, another kid who didn't listen to the alarms when they…." The old man stated before stopping himself. Though he had expected another teen, instead over a dozen men in suits with sunglasses walked in, most with a gun in hand. The lead man, who had no gun, took a moment to look over the speechless crowd. After spotting his agent within the shelter, the agent pointed to the two boys who had entered moments before. Motioning the men forward, the agent started to walk towards them.

"Big brother, who are those people?" Sakura asked as she felt her brother's grip tighten.

"We, young lady, are agents of NERV." The lead agent informed them. Taking off his glasses, he gave his men another hand signal. This time, they slowly surrounded the young trio, giving them a wide berth as the lead agent slowly walked closer to them. "We have a few questions for your brother and his friend."

"We don't have to answer them." Kensuke told him.

"What's in the bag?" The man said, lowering himself to be closer to their eye level as he ignored his statement.

"What is in the bag big brother? We didn't have school today." Sakura quietly asked Toji. The agent took one of the bags and examined it. Toji was about to act, but Kensuke put his hand on his shoulder. Unlike him, Kensuke had noticed the agents around them where ready to handle them if they tried anything. He knew they couldn't win.

"You know, when I was your age I never used my schoolbag for anything other than school." The agent said. He opened the bag and put in his hand. Taking it out again, in his hand he held dark green cloths. "And the only cloths I ever put in it where my gym cloths."

"Sir" one of the other agents said. "This is against protocol."

"I know" the first agent replied. He closed the bag and returned it to the trio. "Now you two, there are two ways we can handle this. Either you come with us peacefully, or this gets ugly. Either way you're coming with us."

Standing up again, the agent walked back to the line of other agents and motioned them to follow. Toji looked at Kensuke, and, seeing him give a nod, stood up.

The agent simply smiled. He brought out his cellphone as he let to other agents handle the apprehension.

"Kaji to base, we got them."

**NERV-1, Section 18**

**Power Generation and Distribution**

"And here are the Arc Reactors we use to power not only the base but the whole city." Maya informed the group. Since they had been close to the bottom of the base, she had decided to have their tour go section by section until they reached the command center.

"They look like scaled up versions of the ones used on the Helicarrier." Mana stated as the three children looked into the room. The room itself was much smaller than they would have expected, only being twice the size of an average dining room. Half a dozen people in hazmat suits where in the room itself, but the center of the room had the unmistakable glow of six Arc power generators. "How much power do they give off?"

"12 terawatts per second" Maya told her. "In the pre-impact days it would take only two hours for this to produce enough energy to power the world for a year."

"Then why is it only powering this base and the city?" Jon asked as he leaned closer to the window. Inside, one of the people took notice of their presents and waved.

"Because every major city has its own." Maya explained, waving back at the man inside.

Another of the men inside the room took notice, but unlike his comrade he didn't act like he did. Moving towards one of the reactors, he quickly removed one of the side panels and started working on the components within. He only saw two of his targets, but that was enough. As he finished his fiddling, he put the panel back into its place.

Moments later, the lights changed from their normal light to their emergency red. In front of the group, a large slab of metal fell over the window as alarms started to ring.

"Run!" Maya yelled after she took a moment to understand what was happening. Grabbing Mana's hand, she ran down the hallway as fast as she could. Looking behind herself, Mana saw that Jon and Shinji where right behind.

"What's going on?" Shinji asked. Behind them, metal blast shields started to come down in the corridors. Ahead of them, they could see other NERV employees running in the same direction as they were. Shinji, who had been in the back of the group, felt himself falling forward. It took his a split-second to realize he had tripped on a blast shield that was rising from the floor. After he landed flat on his face, he felt someone grab his arm. As he forced himself up, he felt the person help him to his feet as the alarms continued to ring. He would have sprinted forward, but two things stopped him. First was the fact that his ankle was sprained. Second was that the part of the corridor he was in was now boxed off by blast doors.

Finally taking notice of the person's face, he saw that it was Jon who had tried to help him.

"Well, looks like we're going to be here a while." Jon said with a sigh.

**NERV 1 Control Center**

**Operations Block Section**

"What is the meaning of this?" the voice was cold, emotionless, but unmistakably his.

"C-commander" Barclay stuttered, almost jumping out of his chair. "T-there seems to be a problem in the power generators. It seems one of them is about to go critical."

As he informed the commander of the emergency, Barclay rose from the seat to allow the commander to take his place as acting head of NERV.

"How long do we have?" Fuyutsuki asked as he moved to his standing position to the commander's right.

"About thirty seconds, sir. The system has already forcefully disconnected the main generators from the rest of the system and moved to the backups." Barclay informed them, speaking faster than he has intended. The commander took in the information, but didn't show any hit of his thoughts on his face.

"Any suggestions on how to handle this Lt.?" the sub-commander asked.

"I'm afraid everything we could do has already been done." Barclay replied. He wondered for a moment what had transpired in the meeting for his superiors to seem so uncaring about this situation at hand.

**Corridor 18-20-c**

**Subsection 8c**

Shinji, with Jon's help, leaned himself against the blast door that has descended in front of them. Slowly moving himself down the wall that stood in their way, he allowed himself sit as relatively comfortably as was possible in the empty space.

Jon sat himself down next to him, an unhappy look on his face.

"So Shinji, why are you here?" He asked him. He kept his eyes on the blast door which had caused them to be trapped in the first place.

"What do you mean by that?" Shinji replied in confusion. Jon didn't say anything. His only response was to lift his arms in front of him, as if reaching for something ahead of him that wasn't there. Not a moment later the floor started to rumble violently, some dust falling from above.

The shaking intensified for several moments before the blast door Shinji had tripped over suddenly came towards them. In only a moment, the door had started moving towards them, fallen apart into dozens of pieces, and only half way from where the door had been to them everything stopped.

Taking a moment to let is fear subside, Shinji noticed that there was some sort of visible distortion that seemed to be acting like a wall between the debris and them. He turned his head to ask Jon what he thought of all this, but stopped himself as he saw his companion's face.

He had a deathly serious look on his face. Shinji would have wondered why he looked so serious, but his attention was grabbed by the slight of blood slowly coming out of his nose. As the rubble fell to the ground from the force of gravity, Jon's hands did the same and he collapsed against Shinji.

Breathing deeply, he spoke. "There's a reason we are all here, Shinji. Why are you?"

Shinji didn't say anything for a few long moments. He chose to look down what had been the corridor at the pile of debris that would have crushed them. Growing impatient at his lack of an answer, Jon spoke up again.

"Alright, I'll put it this way: I saw the way you were running, and it's not the way someone who is running for their lives does." Jon told him, breathing heavily. "Why are you here? What can you do?"

Shinji felt a shill go down his back. He knew that someone here would probably ask him this, more likely than not already knowing the answer. He had been cornered into this one, a mistake on his part but nothing could be done now. He took a deep breath.

"I… can run." He said quietly.

"What?" Jon breathlessly asked.

"I said I can run." Shinji repeated himself. "I can run really, really fast. I don't know how fast exactly, all I know is I can run really fast."

"Really?" Jon seemed to be regaining his breath, his voice seeming to return to normal. He straightened his back and whipped the blood from his nose. "Can you run on water?"

"What?" Shinji asked, almost laughing. "I told you I can run really fast and you seem to be able to do… that, and you ask me if I can run on water? … but yes, I can run on water."

Jon snickered at the comment. "Remind me never to challenge you to a race."

**SEELE Main Base of Operations,**

**Unspecified location within Israel**

"That idiot did WHAT?!" Konrad shouted at his subordinate.

"Well sir," Bob replied, trying his best not to let the fear he felt find their way into his words. "It would seem he attempted to take out two of the targets by setting the base's main reactor to go critical."

"I heard you the first time, but what I want to know is what he was thinking before he killed himself." Konrad informed him. "He did try to take out the targets, but he also almost took out the pilot for Unit-1 AND he has now crippled NERV's main source of power. All I told him was to take out those three North Americans, not to destroy half the base. We want them to defeat the Angels, and to do so in the way we want them to."

Konrad sat himself back down into his chair, his blood pressure rising. He felt a pain behind his eyes but, with his cybernetics in place, could not rub them. Instead he merely covered it with his hand. "I would have him killed for his incompetence if it weren't for the fact that he's already dead. Sometimes I wonder where I get you people."

Bob didn't say anything, and continued to stand in front of his leader.

"Are you still there?" Konrad asked after a minute of thinking. "You're dismissed."

Bob turned around and was about to leave, but before he reached the door his leader told him to stop.

"Wait, Bob, why are you here. Working here, I mean. What do you see in SEELE?"

"Well sir," Bob paused and took a moment to think about the question. "I'm here because this is the only place that would hire me. There might not be a dental plan, but at least the pay is decent. And if things go right I'll be able to tell my kids I not only saw SEELE take over the world, I was part of it. Why?"

"No reason, you're dismissed." Konrad kept his eyes on his subordinate as he left his office. Once he was gone he let out a sigh. "Taking over the world? What a simpleton."

**NERV-1**

**Corridor 18-20-c**

**Subsection 8c**

It had taken many hours, but after the initial panic had subsided things had returned to as close to normal as they could have given the circumstances. For Shinji and Jon, the hours seemed like days and though they would talk for time to time, most of their time on the edge of the blast zone was spent contemplating what lay before them in silence.

The two had learned a thing or two while they talked; Shinji had learned that Jon received his power after walking into an experiment when his mother had brought him to Richards Industries to finalize some military contracts. The experiment had something to do with cosmic particles, though everyone forgot that the moment they realized there was a five year old who had managed to get himself into the test chamber (Jon couldn't remember how he got in there in the first place).

Jon in turn learned that Shinji's power came from him coming into contact with a meteor fragment at about the same age. It had landed in the forest behind his uncle's home and he, being a curios boy, how gone to see what had happened. In hindsight he knew it was probably a bad idea to touch a glowing purple rock that fell from the sky, but could you really explain that to a five year old? It had taken him over an hour of walking to get to the fragment. His run home to treat the burn on his hand had taken moments.

They both learned some other things, interests, television preferences, books they liked (the amount of classical English works Shinji enjoyed surprised Jon), but eventually their talking would die down as once again they would say something that reminded them that right in front of their face's probably over a hundred people had died, and dozens for certain.

Their latest lap of silence was interrupted by a soft but high pitched sound. Looking at the blast door behind them, a round blue circle about a meter and a half wide started to glow, until the glow disappeared and was replaced with the interior of the circle falling outwards. Inside the hole, the head of Reginald Barclay appeared. "How you boys doing?"

"Uncle Reg." Jon said quietly, a smile appearing on his face. "We're fine but could we have something to eat or drink? I don't know about Shinji but I haven't had anything since this morning… uh, yesterday morning." Jon corrected himself after talking a look at his watch. Reg walked through the hole and allowed medics to bring enlarge the hole to allow for a stretcher to pass through.

"There's food at the medical section, which is where both of you are going. And before you say anything, you're both going. Who knows what the energy release could have done to you. And you" Reg pointed to Jon, then pointed at his nose. "You have some blood on your nose. You overexerted yourself didn't you?"

"It was either that or let all of us down here get crushed by the walls." Jon stated in defense. One of the medics offered him a hand to allow him to ease himself onto an awaiting stretcher, another doing the same to Shinji.

"Well both of you just follow what the medics and doctors say, get some food in you and then get some rest." Reg ordered them as they were eased onto the stretchers. As the two boys where brought out of the cage that had held them for hours, Reg sighed. The easy part was over, now it was debris removal, body recovery, and if god was listening finding people trapped but very much alive in rooms which had escaped fate.

He didn't know it then, but as he worked with the rescue teams the two boys had fallen asleep before they had reached the medical ward.

**Katsuragi/Barclay household**

**Next morning**

Misato awoke to a half empty bed with a twinge of guilt. The night before she had been ordered to rest despite wanting to help with the rescue of survivors trapped in section 18, but having been on duty since early morning that day Ritsuko had ordered her to bed. She had wanted to protest, but after Ritsuko reminded her that not only did she need to rest, but that there was someone waiting for her at home, she had conceded defeat.

Going through her morning rituals, she noticed that, upon entering the dining room, there was a full breakfast laid out for three with a copy of the morning newspaper sitting between two of them. Rei was in the proses of placing drinks down. A glass of white milk for herself, one of fruit punch Reginald always liked, and one of apple juice for Misato, her favorite non-alcoholic drink.

The meal itself was more of a small feast, with each plate having sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs, with a plate in the center of the table with a stack of pancakes. Next to the stack was a bottle of imported maple syrup from the French part of Reginald's home country, the name escaping Misato in her morning haze.

"Morning Rei, what's the occasion?" Misato asked as she took her place at the table. Rei, who took her own place opposite Misato, simple shrugged.

"There is no occasion; I'm simply making myself useful."

"Useful? This seems a little extravagant, don't you think?" Misato asked as she took a piece of bacon and started to eat.

"I'm confused, is this not a traditional western meal for breakfast?"

"Rei, most westerners will eat something simple like toast or cereal for breakfast. Things like bacon and sausage are saved for weekends or holidays by most. And to have all this at once? It's not something you do every week, let alone every day." Misato explained.

"So I have failed?" Rei asked, tilting her head forward in disappointment.

"Not at all, in fact I love this; it's just that it's a little much. Just don't do it every day." Misato moved on to the next piece of her breakfast.

"But if I don't do things like this how will I prove I'm useful?" The question made Misato stop.

"What is this all about?" Misato asked, putting down her fork.

"I know about the papers you and the lieutenant commander signed yesterday. You want to get rid of me." Rei didn't change her tone of voice, but her eyes started to water up. "You want to get rid of me and replace me with them. After you promised you would always be there for me."

As realization dawned on Misato, tears started to fall down Rei's cheeks.

"Oh Rei." Misato quietly said as she sat up from her seat. Walking next to the girl, she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Rei, that's not at all what we were doing. You knew Jon would be staying with us, and we wanted the other three to join in so that unit cohesion would be better and more importantly you could make some real friends. We would never get rid of you. I would never get rid of you. You just need to get used to others living with us."

"But I don't want others to live with us, I just want it to be you and me and Mr. Barclay. I don't want you to be anyone else's mommy, you're my mommy." Rei cried as she started hiccupping from her sobbing.

"You're right, I am your mommy, but that won't change with them here. You'll always be my daughter, and I'll always love you." As Rei cried into her chest, Misato rubbed her back to help calm her down. Rei had always had trouble expressing herself, but Misato had never seen her this scared. As she comforted the young girl in her arms, her thoughts went to five years before when she had first brought Rei to her home. It was one of the biggest decisions in her life, but it was also one she didn't regret for a second.

**United Nations Security Council**

**New York City**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the hour of the war with the Angels is upon us. Yesterday a single being destroyed a major city and damaged one of our world's strongest armies to the point where it will take years, maybe even over a decade, to repair. We are standing on the brink once again; only unlike after impact this is not a threat of ourselves, but indeed a threat from the stars. Though many of us in this room where aware of this, the wider public was not and now we are facing a fundamental shift in how our peoples look at our world. Yesterday we were living in the post-impact world; today we live in the post-contact world. My fellow delegates, we must prepare for this threat with the utmost hast and we…" The Latverian delegate was cut off as his microphone was forcibly shut down.

"President Doom, do you have a point or are you simply going to waste this council's time while we are in a state of crisis?" The US secretary of defense, representing the United States, asked.

"Mr. Secretary, my point is this, we need for the United States and Canada to release the specifications for the Helicarrier and Avalon, while Japan and Germany to do the same for the Evangelions, if not for all nations of the world, then at least the five nations who are permanent members of this council who do not have them, or are we going to fight this war with our hands tied behind our hands."

"President Doom, this issue was addressed years ago. The United Kingdom and France would in time receive North American built Helicarriers given to them, while they and Germany, Russia, Japan and China would in time be given the specifications required for the Avalons, while the United States would be given those of the Evangelions. This was all part of the Treaty of Vatican." The representative for Canada, head of Department H, informed him.

"This is true, however this leaved out my nation entirely from this agreement." Victor replied. "If my nation is to be left out of this completely, why is it a part of this council at all?"

"Because your nation being present prevents an even vote." The French foreign minister replied. "Your country is but a fraction of all others here in terms of economic and military power. The only reason you are here is to keep the numbers balanced and to keep your nation in check after you illegally developed nuclear weapons."

"And who is to keep the other nations here in check?" Victor asked. "The United States has three Helicarriers build and a dozen more under construction. Canada has three hundred Avalons under construction as we speak and five hundred more planned to be built. Germany is about to activate an Evangelion and Japan already has two up and running. There are also nine more on the board for construction, four in the US, one in the UK, one in France, two in Germany and one in Russia. With Japan being the exception, this gives a massively unfavorable balance of power between the Eastern and Western nations. Who will keep that in check?"

"This was all addressed in the Treaty, now if we…" The US secretary stated before being cut off.

"These are issues we need to talk about now and need to be reopened." Victor's voice rose as he spoke. "Yesterday, the strangest thing in the world to our citizens was a rich playboy who had a flying suit. Today people are fear aliens falling from the sky while they wonder what other secrets we are hiding." He lifted a newspaper, a copy of the Bugle, with the headline 'ALIENS INVADE JAPAN, ARE WE NEXT?'

"This could cause a revolution, we need to show we are ready to fight this threat and are united."

"President Doom," the Russian representative on the council spoke. "That is very much the case. There may be a military imbalance in the Treat but there where tradeoffs. The only one that isn't in agreement here, is you."

"But I…" Victor was about to reply, but was cut off.

"That being said," the Russian continued. "You are here for the sole purpose of keeping the numbers odd to prevent an even vote. Now, one more outburst and you will be thrown out for obstruction. Is that understood?"

Victor Von Doom, accepting that he had lost, sat down. 'Not a week ago two monsters fought in this city and a few miles away a war between man and machine occurred, and they act as if nothing has changed'.

**NERV 1 temporary holding cell 5**

**Section 2**

"This sucks, I blame you for this." Kensuke complained. After being brought to the cell they had been completely forgotten, save for the woman who had brought them some food for dinner and then again for breakfast.

"Well what do you want me to do about it? Not like if I break those bars we could escape." Toji replied, still half asleep.

"You're right about that, kid." Kaji statement startled the boys. Jumping up from the bench that he had been resting on, Toji stood up straight.

"You're the guy who brought us here, what the hell do you people want?"

"That's simple, to talk." Kaji took off his sunglasses and placed them in his pocket. "We've had reports once in a while over the past few months of muggers being stopped by a pair of teens with 'less than normal' attributes."

"And you caught us, now what?" Kensuke asked. Unlike his friend, he had not been able to get much sleep, causing him to be on edge. Kaji simply held some papers between the bars, offering them to the boys. "What's this?"

"These are working contracts. The boys up top seem to think we can make use of you for the team we're assembling." Kaji explained. Kensuke gave him a perplexed look, while Toji just took the opportunity to read the papers.

"What type of team are we talking about?"

**NERV 1 Medical Recovery Ward**

**Room 616**

Feeling an odd tingling sensation in his abdomen, Shinji slowly opened his eyes to the site of the younger nurse, Hikari, hovering over him with her hands on his stomach. Because of his lack of energy, he simply closed his eyes again before he realized what he had just seen. Opening his eyes again, he saw that she had moved herself to a chair between his bed and the one that seemed to be Jon's. He wondered how long he was asleep while he thought he simply closed his eyes.

Hikari seemed to be half-asleep as she tried to open a chocolate bar. Clearing his thought to get her attention, the girl jumped slightly.

"Oh, you're awake." She went right back to trying to open her bar.

"What… where you… doing?" He asked, still exhausted. Finally opening her bar, she took a moment to take a few bites before answering him.

"I was healing you. You caught a stomach virus a few days ago, you would have started to show signs in another few. Didn't take that much energy. He, on the other hand" she paused to point at Jon. "Had some light brain hemorrhaging. He took two and a half bars to fix up."

"Two and a half what?" Shinji asked. The lightheadedness was starting to leave him.

"I need energy to heal people. It doesn't come out of thin air. I've had to go down to the cafeteria a dozen times to eat since last night started." She stopped to finish her bar.

"So why are you getting to us now? We were brought here last night right?"

"Because there were about three hundred people injured. You two actually seemed to be some of the least injured when we did triage. Also, when I said I went to the cafeteria, I didn't mean to get a bar, I went for a few full meals each time. Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to heal people? I've eaten at least my own weight in the past twelve hours, and I still feel like I've lost ten pounds." As she explained, Hikari took out another chocolate bar and unwrapped it.

"So you can heal people." Shinji said as she ate the bar. "So you're like us." After she finished her bar, she paused for a few long moments before answering him.

"No." She finally stated. "I've seen your files; you two got your powers by accident. I didn't, I got them from the Impact-gene. I was born with this." To Shinji, she seemed almost ashamed to admit it. He didn't understand why. After all, to him this news was great. He had never met another person like him; none of the people in his town seemed to have powers. He had done his best to hide them, but there were rumors. But they started to quiet after the American's man of iron started killing terrorists in the Middle East.

"Well" Shinji mumbled to himself. "At least we're not alone now."

**Village of St Rose**

**10km west of the German/Polish boarder**

Taking a step out of the car, Commander Smith took a long look around. The small village he and his men had been ordered to had been difficulty to find, not being on most of the maps they had been provided. The village had maybe a dozen houses and other buildings on what constituted a 'main street'. Or at least there had been. Now all that remained was the ruins of what had once been a backwater.

One of the villagers who had been awaiting them walked up to him.

"You seem to be taking our message seriously. I'm actually surprised you found us at all, most people just pass right by us and claim we aren't on their maps." The villager informed him. The villager took notice of the fact that there where over a dozen cars and three armored transports that now filled the village's road.

"With what has been happening lately, we're more inclined to respond to these things." Smith informed the villager. "Where are they?"

"The doctor's old lab, it's this way." The villager then started to walk towards one of the building remains further down the road, not directly part of the village itself. Motioning for his men to follow, Smith and two dozen armed guards walked behind the man.

"It's a shame really, spending so many years developing it only to use it twice before his death. And he didn't even bother writing down the formula." The villager lamented.

"His type seems to be like that. They don't seem to trust their creations in the hands of others." Smith told the man. The villager shrugged, though what he meant by the action he wasn't sure. Smith was from Saarland, how would he know what mannerisms of a Saxon from Görlitz meant?

"We are here." The villager informed them. The lone building, also ruined like the rest, seemed to be a simple country house. But as they entered the ruins, the view in the open door in the floor that lead to the basement seemed to go far too deep for a simple house. The villager walked into the basement, not waiting for Smith or his guards.

Smith didn't hesitate to follow, but signaled for half his men to wait up top for their return. The dark staircase had a light every dozen or so feet that did little to light the path that seemed to go on for a hundred feet, if not more.

"How deep is this facility?" Smith asked the villager.

"Forty-seven meters. Doctor didn't want the noise to create any... unwanted attention." The men walked in silence until they reached the bottom, where a simple metal door with a keypad waited for them. The villager inputted a quick code to allow the door to unlock.

"So what level of threat do they currently pose?" Smith asked as the villager opened the door.

"If you make them angry then do so at your own risk, however they should to be cooperative if you give them the impression that they will remain together and be safe." He explained. Entering the lab, the single large room seemed to be in shambles. Where there had been large tables covered in test tubes and other chemical holding glasses now was broken glass and liquids. At the end of the room was a wall of transparent metal, and inside was their targets. The targets in question where a young boy and girl, the boy had short black hair while the girl had short blond.

Walking up to the transparent wall, while keeping mind of the dangerous chemicals, Smith took a closer look at the pair. The boy was sleeping, but the girl had her eyes locked on him.

"The speaker is to your right." The villager told him. Taking note, Smith moved to the device on the wall.

"Hello, can you hear me?" Smith asked. The girl nodded. "Do you know why I'm here?" Again the girl nodded. "Will you resist?" This time, the girl moved to the intercom within the room she was trapped in to speak up.

"Not if I don't have to." She stated.

"What would force you to?" Smith asked. The girl simply pointed to the still sleeping boy. Nodding his head in understanding, Smith signaled for two of his men to enter the room. The villager needed to use yet another password to open the door to the children.

Once inside the room, the two guards each placed the children in specially made cuffs. The cuffs where a combination of a set of three conventional cuffs coupled with a neck brace that prevented their hands from approaching their face.

The boy, only after the cuffing was complete, finally awoke. The girl quickly explained to him what was happening.

As the two children, the guards and Smith started to walk back to the awaiting Gehirn convoy, Smith chose to break the ice with the children in the hopes of making the proses less stressful on them.

"I'm Commander Erwin Smith, pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you mister Smith." The boy told him. "I'm Eren."

The boy waited for the girl to introduce herself, but after a few moments it was clear she had no intention of doing so. Eren did so for her. "She's Annie."

**NERV Medical Ward Cafeteria**

"You know, for someone who should be sleeping after your plane crash, you seem pretty hungry and full of energy." Mana stated as she watched Mary finished her third bowl of Raman.

"I can't help myself, have you tries this stuff?" Mary enthusiastically told her as she started her fourth bowl.

"How can you even be this hungry? You only missed one meal, and you didn't even use your powers. Where does it all go?" Mana asked, more to herself then to Mary. Moving her attention down to her own breakfast, a grilled sandwich with eggs on the side and a space that had two sausages minutes before, she couldn't help but let her mind wander.

Sure, it was nice that Mary was ok, but it felt a little odd how it had happened. She always knew there were others with powers beyond herself and her two fellow pilots, and she had wondered just how many there were out there, but to think that there could be those born with these powers? Just how many people could be out there, who for all she knew could move cities with their mind? And how long before something bad happened because of it?

"Mana." Mary calling her name pulled her from her thoughts.

"What?"

"You have that look on your face again."

"What look on my face?"

"That 'I think I found out another way the world is going to end' look." Mary told her. She put down her bowl and leaned towards Mana. "You're wondering how we can possibly win against aliens that made us almost us an N2 bomb and almost killed your best friend, right?"

"Nope, not even close." Mana informed her. Mary leaned into her seat with a frown.

"Man, you're no fun."

**NERV pilot briefing room**

**That afternoon**

The eight children sat around the large conference table. On the one side, the three Avalon pilots sat quietly, in full dress uniform. Across from them, the two Evangelion pilots stat, Rei in her plug suit, Shinji in his school cloths. At the end of the table, Toji, Kensuke and Hikari sat. Hikari, still in her nurse uniform, did her best to remain alert; having received almost no during the little time she had off before the meeting.

Around the room, there were a dozen or so Section 2 agents standing guard, Kaji among them. At the head of the large table, the three chairs where filled by Misato, Ritsuko and sub commander Fuyutsuki. Above them on the wall, there were four logos, one from each member of the joint task force. NERV, S.H.I.E.L.D., Department H, Gehirn.

The children around the table where all quiet as they let the information the sub commander gave them sink in.

"So let me get this straight." Mary stated, getting the attention of the table. "You want us all to act like some sort of team; even though three of us fly planes, two pilot giant robots, three do neither and we don't even have everyone who will be a member here? What exactly are we even going to do?"

"We won't always need everyone, true, but what we want is a well-rounded team that can handle any situation." Fuyutsuki explained. "Everyone here has their use. A role to play."

"I don't know." Toji stated. "I mean I'm all for keeping the bad guys away, but what type of name is 'Strike Force'?"

"I like it." Mana replied. "Sounds nice, and leaves a good impression. What do you think Shinji?"

"Uh, I don't know. Doesn't really seem that important." Shinji quietly told her.

"Ikari is right; the name of our group is merely a title. It makes no real difference to our performance." Rei said, adding her opinion to the conversation.

"The name is also already chosen," Ritsuko informed them. "All we are doing now if giving you the facts and filling out paperwork."

"What I want to know is, how is Bravo Strike going to operate without its leader here?" Jon asked, looking over at the Eva pilots. The Evangelions had been marked as 'Bravo Strike' within the Strike Force, with the Avalons being 'Alpha' due to reasons that where more political than anything else.

"Rei will lead Bravo until the pilot of Unit 2 arrives." Misato informed them. "She will be…"

"And how did 'that' end us as head of Charlie Strike?" Mary asked, 'that' meaning Toji, and Charlie meaning him, Kensuke and Hikari.

"What you mean by 'that'?" Toji asked, taking offense to the statement.

"You know, overconfident moron?" Mary shot back.

"What you call me whore?" Toji didn't know why Mana and Jon had a fearful look on their faces. Mary, who said nothing back, simply stood up, moved over to Jon, and there was a slight glow when her hand came into contact with him.

"Mary…" Jon told her in a slightly agitated tone.

"Nobody calls me a whore." Mary quietly told him.

**Outside NERV pilot conference room**

Maya Ibuki was not having a good day. First she had to pull overtime because of the Angel attack, and then she only got a short brake to sleep before she had to fill out paperwork, then her lunch was cut short, and now she had been chosen to bring some scanning machine to the pilot conference room for reasons unknown. And all this after almost being killed from a reactor overload.

And then, while she was doing her work and minding her own business, some boy had been thrown through the wall in front of her.

"What in the name of all that is holly is going on?" She cursed, or did what was cursing for her. As the dust settled, revealing the scanner to have been knocked over, she saw two of the children doing… something.

One, the boy who had been thrown through the wall, was trying to his the girl with long hair who was in front of him. Trying, as he seemed to always be stopped by some invisible wall about a foot away from her face.

Before either could do much else, the two children found themselves floating in the air. Both of them having a look of panic on their face, Maya noticed that at the new entrance to the conference room, Rei stood.

Her red eyes glowing, no hint of emotion on her face, she simple walked back to her seat as the two fighting children where moved back to their own seats by some unseen force.

"Ah, Miss Ibuki, you're just in time." Fuyutsuki stated, ignoring the event that had just transpired.

"Uh, t-thank you sir." Maya stuttered as she straightened her uniform.

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, three kilometers above Siberia**

**Director's office**

"Sir, the report just came it, Strike Force is a go and the 'suits' have are in production." Agent Maria Hill informed the director. "Though I will say I still don't see what you see in them. They're just a bunch of kids, and we're trusting them with billion dollar war machines?"

"Your disapproval has already been noted, Agent." Director Fury stated, not looking up from his paperwork. "Now I assume that your presence here means the transport has landed."

"Uh, yes sir. It has… He has arrived." Maria had a bit of trouble thinking that 'he' was onboard. She didn't trust him; she didn't even trust his kind. But orders where orders. She had no say in the matter.

"Alright, show him in." The Director straightened out a few papers before straightening himself out in his seat.

Opening the door, Maria directed the man waiting outside in. The tall man didn't acknowledge her as he walked in. Maria didn't know who was more intimidating, this man, with his white hair and red eyes and that horrid aura of darkness around him, or Director Fury when he got angry.

"Mr. Shuzen, thank you for meeting me on such short notice." Fury told the man. The man smiled.

Maria would remember the look of his fangs sticking out of his mouth for years, even with the inhuman and all too human horrors she witnessed.

**87km North of Tokyo-3**

**Dead of night**

In the small village far outside the major city, three adults appeared in an alley. The first reaction the three had to their sudden appearance was to promptly vomit.

"I knew it would be a rough rid, but still, what a rush." The Caucasian man stated.

"Well, if you had done it right the first time, it would have been much easier." The Asian man replied.

"Both of you shut up." The muscular, green-skinned woman barked. "Did we make it?"

The Asian man pulled out a small device from his pants. He took a moment to look it over again to make sure he was not mistaken. "It seems we got closer to where we wanted to in more ways than one."

"What do you mean?" The other man asked before looking at the device himself. "My god."

"What is it?" The woman asked. The men looked up at her with smiles on their faces.

"It would seem we are right where we want to be, when we want to be. Right when the war started." The Asian man said.

"Which war?"

"The Angel war."

The three didn't say anything for a long moment.

"This means we will need to change our plan." The woman stated. "But before that, we need a place to hide."

"How about the last place on Earth we should go?" The Asian man asked. The Caucasian man and the woman looked at each other and simply nodded. Without another word, the Caucasian man lifted the lone case they had with them, and then willed his powers to propel himself and his two companions into the sky, flying them south towards Tokyo-3.

**Author's Notes**

_Well, that took longer to write then I hoped it would. Chapters are going to be about this long from now on._

_For anyone who is a little confused, the story on the Marvel side is taking place the week right after that which Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and Thor happened during. Spiderman and Daredevil have been doing their thing for about a year now, but neither follows any comic or movie cannon for this story._

_As for Dr. Richards and Dr. Doom, Richards is not nearly as smart in this story as he is in the comics, and Doom had a very different childhood which lead him into politics. He still has the same hatred he does in the comics, he just directs it towards other countries instead of at Richards._

_For those wondering about Barclay, yes, he is the one from Star Trek._

_Before anyone complains about Rei having emotions, keep in mind she does have them in all the Eva universes, she just doesn't know how to express herself. Years with mama-Misato slowly changes that._

_Lastly, Omake are cannon, though not directly relevant to the story._

_Thanks for reading, feedback would be enjoyed, even if negative._

**Omake**

"You know you two girls don't really look American." Toji stated as the group ate their lunch in one of the bases many cafeterias. The two aforementioned girls simply looked at each other before looking back at him.

"What exactly do you mean by that, Toji?" Mana asked, before taking a bite out of her food.

"Well, you would think Americans look like, well, you know, like Americans." He tried to explain. He then pointed to Jon. "You know, like him. He looks American."

The two girls had a slightly fearful look on their faces, which confused the rest of the group.

"Uh, did he say something wrong?" Kensuke asked. Mary didn't say anything, but pointed to Jon. The boy wasn't saying anything, but there was a definite dark aura around him.

"What did you say, Toji? I didn't hear you." Jon stated flatly.

"I said you're the only one that looks like an American here." Toji stated, ignoring the hand signals from Mary and Mana trying to get him to stop.

Later that day Misato had to fill out paperwork that had to do with a large hole in a cafeteria wall created from a superpowered fight. When she asked Mana to explain to her what happened, the only answer she got was that Toji would probably never make the mistake of calling Jon an American ever again.


End file.
